Jewish Peace News (JPN) is an information service that circulates news clippings, analyses, editorial commentary, and action alerts concerning the Israel / Palestine conflict. We work to promote a just resolution to the conflict; we believe that the cause of both peace and justice will be served when Israel ends the occupation, withdrawing completely from the Palestinian territories and finding a solution to the Palestinian refugee crisis within the framework of international law.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Below, you'll find links to two fact sheets that I invite you todistribute widely responding to numerous lies and distortions beingspread about the protest letter signed by 1,000 plus artists andfilmmakers -including many Palestinians and Israelis- regarding theToronto International Film Festival's celebratory spotlight on telaviv . Many of JVP's advisory board members have signed it- and thebacklash has been terrible and very hard on a number of people. readthe fact sheet and you'll see the institutional jewish and right wingpile-on. jimmy carter redux.

From Racheli:I'm also enclosing an email sent to its membership by J street, in a dishonesteffort to make gains. It's not a formal J street communication, but when it's organized and sentout by some of the people at the very top of the organization, the difference isn't huge.

Jeremy Ben-Ami and Lilly Rivlin (as individuals) arecollecting signatures on the letter below regarding the Toronto FilmFestival. We feel it is very important for the pro-Israel, pro-peacecommunity to clearly articulate the lines that we will defend when itcomes to actions that de-legitimize the state of Israel itself. Ifyou would like to join us in this statement, please email yourapproval to add your name (and affiliation for identificationpurposes) to the letter to Isaac Luria (isaac@jstreet.org).

We are trying to gather the names of 100 prominent JewishAmericans who are writers, academics, rabbis, activists and prominentthought leaders of our community.

We intend to deliver the letter by Monday and to apprise themedia of the signatory list.

Please feel free to pass this effort along to others of yourcolleagues/acquaintances whose voices would add to the scope of thiscall.

We, the undersigned, thank the Toronto International FilmFestival for choosing Tel Aviv for its inaugural City-to-Cityspotlight and to indicate our support for you as Jews who support ajust and speedy two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinianconflict.

Israel's growing and internationally recognized film industry,centered in Tel Aviv, is rightly a source of pride for many Israelisand others, like us, who care about Israel. Through their art, Israelifilmmakers are presenting the world with a rich picture of Israel'scomplex and layered society that goes deeper than simplisticheadlines.

We find protests and criticism such as that leveled at theToronto International Film Festival's decision to showcase Tel Aviv'sfilm industry shameful and shortsighted.

The cause of peace will not be served by demonizing Israelifilm and filmmakers as being part of the "Israeli propagandacampaign." In fact, anyone who actually watches popular Israeli filmswould know that the films are often vigorously critical of Israeligovernment policy.

Some critics say their objection is to the Israeligovernment's role in promoting the films and not the films themselves.Israel, like some European governments, supports its film industryfinancially and does not employ any political litmus test to determinewhich films receive funding. Some of your critics, it appears, wouldhave us believe that Benjamin Netanyahu personally selected thesefilms for maximum propaganda effect. That, of course, is absurd.

We must also, however, express our dismay at the statement bythe Toronto International Film Festival's co-director that Tel Aviv is"contested ground." Just as we firmly believe that a Palestinianstate must be established in territory beyond the pre-1967 borders, wehope that Tel Aviv's legitimacy as an Israeli city has been longestablished. Recognizing both these facts is essential to realizing atwo-state solution, which is the only way to secure Israel as a Jewishdemocracy and provide the Palestinians with a state of their own.

We urge those protesting Tel Aviv's selection to reconsidertheir actions. And we urge the Toronto International Film Festival tostand strong in the face of efforts to turn their artistic celebrationinto a political fight.

1 comment:

Hey, thanks for the links. Gonna read them. As for the protest, it was just surprising that people did not only criticize the issue but have actually done something about it. So I guess everything has good and a bad side, right?